Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Bilbo's "Farewell Address", at his birthday party - from The Fellowship of the Ring:

After the feast... came the Speech. Most of the company were, however, now in a tolerant mood, at that delightful stage which they called 'filling up the corners'....My dear People, began Bilbo...Today is my one hundred and eleventh birthday: I am eleventy-one today! 'Hurray! Hurray! Many Happy Returns!' they shouted.... This was the sort of stuff they liked: short and obvious.But Bilbo had not finished. Seizing a horn from a youngster near by, he blew three loud hoots.... I shall not keep you long, he cried. Cheers from all the assembly. I have called you all together for a Purpose..... There was almost silence....First of all, to tell you that I am immensely fond of you all, and that eleventy-one years is too short a time to live among such excellent and admirable hobbits. Tremendous outburst of approval.Secondly, to celebrate my birthday...Thirdly and finally, he said, I wish to make an ANNOUNCEMENT. He spoke this last word so loudly and suddenly that everyone sat up who still could. I regret to announce that — though, as I said, eleventy-one years is far too short a time to spend among you — this is the END. I am going. I am leaving NOW. GOOD-BYE!

I thought it would be an apt moment - on my 8th blogiversary -to announce that this is THE END of Right, Wing Nut!

And it was too short a time to spend among so many excellent friends and visitors. But this decision is the culmination of a thought process I began in November, a post-debacle post-mortem in which I tried to figure out if what I am doing here makes even the slightest difference whatsoever in the grand internet scheme of things.

Turns out, I don't. Or at least I don't feel like I do. And that's not self-pity, but just the realization that a lot of people do conservative political blogging, and many of them do it better than me.

And I'll admit it - sometimes I ran a particular line of reasoning, or made a certain comparison, or dug up an interesting story...and like the tree falling int he woods, it didn't make much of a sound. But let a better-connected political blogger make the same connection a week later, and they are hailed and linked worldwide.

The plight of the small blogger everywhere, I suppose. And I'm not sure it's healthy for the genre; we don't want to turn into an online version of the mainstream media, dominated by a few voices. Still, I'd like to give props to some of the big players who did link here, often more than once -Legal Insurrection, The Other McCain, Michelle Malkin come to mind. Not to mention every small to mid sized blogger that threw a link my way (Jim at Parkway Rest Stop,Barking Moonbat, Right Truth, Liberty at Stake, CBC...it's a long list, but thanks to all), and every Twitter follower who re-tweeted a post....

Look - in general, I wrote because I loved to write. So many of these 4,635 blog posts were just bursts of political frustration that Right, Wing Nut! gave me an outlet for. The fact that so many people came by every day to read (600-800, on average) pleased me to no end.

So I'm still gonna blog. Just not here. Just not under this particular name. Just not at this particular blog. And just not on this particular subject.

I'm going to work the culture angle, because that's where I feel the next battle lies. And I'm not talking about gay marriage, or abortion, or the proliferation of porn (not specifically). I'm talking about the complete subjugation of the culture (and the media) to the worldview of the Left, and of the Democratic party. If we remain a nation where Americans are taught that it is not only proper, but morally correct, to mock every Republican and every conservative concept, then the GOP is dead in the water, regardless of what cosmetic changes it may make. And I will address the three topics above, by the way - just in reference to how the culture tries to sell us these oft-distressing behaviors as "normal"...

I'll be coming from the right, of course, and it will be a target-rich environment. And I'll be doing it because I love to write, and I don't want to give up the fight. It's just that after eight years, I need a new battlefield.

And I promise I won't forget Jersey. How can I? I love this freakin' place. Besides, I need to stay in the good graces of the Jersey bloggers (like More Monmouth Musings...)

I'll probably be ready to go in just a few weeks. I'll either do a redirect, or just post a link on the top guiding you to where I may be found.

Finally, let me say, from the bottom of my heart...thank you. Thank you for reading, for linking, for commenting. I remain honored that I have been found worthy of your attention at all, actually (despite that little bit of bitchiness above).

Sometimes, when you hurt, you should wallow in your misery. Allow yourself to feel every stab of pain, every pang of loss. And when the black cloud finally passes, you'll find that you suddenly possess the renewed vigor and sense of purpose necessary to move forward. Steely determination replaces weak resolve, and the desire never to return to that dark place propels you ahead, sometimes boldly, sometimes recklessly, sometimes foolishly. But always ahead.

Sunday, March 24, 2013

So I commute from Old Bridge to Midtown Manhattan every day, a 90+ minute trip that involves three legs: Driving (to a park & ride), hopping on a bus, and then either taking a subway or hoofing it to the office, depending on my morning mojo.

The bus trip is the longest segment, usually close to an hour, if not in excess. And it was perhaps the only saving grace of the commute, as it is oft possible to spend a bulk of that time sleeping, and thus make up for any quality REM missed due to an ungodly wakeup hour.

But there is no more silence on New Jersey Transit buses anymore. For as of a few weeks ago, all buses appear to have been pre-programming with a small series of intrusive, offensive, repetitive announcements. All spaced out just far enough to allow you to doze off, only to be awakened by a syrupy-sweet woman's voice laying down the law:

"Smoking, drinking, and eating are not allowed on New Jersey Transit buses"

There's the obligatory nannyism:"When exiting the bus, please use the handrails, and hold the hand of small children"

There's hucksterism of the NJT product:

"NJT monthly passes can save you over 30%"

And the announcement that seems to be in the highest rotation is the most aggregious of them all:

"Be aware of suspicious behavior. Report it to NJT at 1-888-TIPS-NJT."

So there I am....nodding off, about to grab a little extra shut-eye, when I am awakened by a voice demanding that I treat my fellow citizens with apprehension, and narc on them should I feel they are somehow...out of line.

Only to doze off again, and be roused minutes later by the same voice, reciting, with forced niceness, the "rules", according to NJT. Followed shortly by some propaganda about saving money by using government-operated transportation. And then, as I begin to drop off one last desperate time, the voice of the state returns....reminding me once more of the number I should I call if I feel any of my fellow riders are possibly enemies of the state.

“There is no absurdity so palpable but that it may be firmly planted in the human head...by constantly repeating it with an air of great solemnity.”

And when I finally just give up, and lean my blank face against the window to watch the industrial scenery roll by, I get to see billboards with full color "wanted" pictures, while others tout the strength and resilience of New Jersey, assuring us we are strong enough to rebuild.

Turn grief into strength, carry out Chris Christie's’s behests and carry the proletarian revolutionary cause through to the end...

Think I'm going a bit over the top? Well, read thislittle tale out of Jersey from a few days back, and try to tell me that these two incidents are not connected, at least on a philosophical level.

You know what else I think?

That somewhere, at some time, we went horribly off-track....and are accelerating rapidly. In the wrong direction...

Two music videos were shot for the song, both directed by Swedish director Jonas Åkerlund. The first one featured Madonna at a military-themed fashion show, cavorting with a brigade of female soldiers and in the end, she throws a hand grenade at George W. Bush. Prior its release, it caused controversy regarding its political, racial, violence and religious views, leading Madonna to release a statement explaining its concept.After the invasion of Iraq started, Madonna cancelled the release of the original music video, because of the political climate of the country at the time...

Maybe. Or maybe Madonna cared more about money than any actual political message she was delivering. After all, having just witnessed the demise of the Dixie Chicks....

The video is here. Around 4:20, Madonna appears to throw the grenade at Bush, who proceeds to catch it in midair, smirk (of course), and light a cigar - all while seemingly impervious to, and pleased by, the carnage unfolding all around him.

Try doing that today. Imagine Obama taking a hit from a Hellfire missile delivered straight from a Predator drone, only to have it turn into a a brand-new Titleist 5-iron. Watch him swing and smile, as innocents die abroad and Americans starve at home!

Do it, and find yourself in jail faster than you can say "Nakoula Basseley Nakoula". Assuming the media doesn't lynch you, Zimmerman-style, first.

Friday, March 22, 2013

....look, I'm not endorsing the guy. Soft conservatism in the face of the liberal machine does nothing to halt the flow of institutionalized bureaucratic fascism, which is anongoing problem in New Jersey, as well as nationally.

But, personality-wise, he might just be the perfect fit for America 2016. Gruff and no-nonsense on the outside, but soft and ever-so-human on the inside.

Listen to him tell a quick story about family (his mother-in-law, in this case). To the average American of every political & racial stripe, Christie will come off as just the big guy from down the street who can tell funny - and self-depreciating - stories that they can relate to:

It'll be hard for the media to paint this guy as a "wacko bird", or as an evil right-wing nut. What will that leave the Democrats/media to work with? Fat jokes, maybe?

Thursday, March 21, 2013

"I don't have the words to describe the cowardice of Congress or the depravity of the gun lobby, which conspired to kill the assault-weapons ban....I can't explain the apparent impotence of President Obama who vowed to 'use whatever power this office holds' to convert the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School into commonsense common good,"

Mike Lupica of the New York Daily News (possibly the worst sportswriter in America; his alck of talent have now taken him to the appropriate place: liberal commentary) writes under a headline shrieking "Spineless Pols Spit on the Graves of Newtown Victims by Not Pushing for Assault Weapons Ban."

So how does the president and any other big politician who allows the gun nuts from the National Rifle Association to win again answer the larger question about weapons that make killings like the elementary-school massacre ridiculously easy: If not now for a ban on these weapons, when?

Liberals run on emotional fumes, as their intellectual arguments hold no water. But speaking of which, here's a cool drink of it, from James Taranto:

As Fournier puts it, Obama and his allies wished "to convert the tragedy . . . into commonsense common good." We disagree on the merits and would put it this way: They cynically sought to exploit a horrific crime in order to promote dubious policies that they had long wished to impose but had refrained from pushing for fear of the political consequences.There was never very much to the argument other than demagogic appeals to emotion.

The demagogues lost yesterday, and for that, we should all be grateful. Alas, we have not the time to even rest our weary heads, for they are at it already again today...

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Post a picture of your son with a .22 in New Jersey , and get a knock on the door from DYFS (New Jersey’s notoriously corrupt and incompetent "Department of Youth and Family Services"), along with an entire squadron of local bitch cops.

Seriously. Via The Blaze, we get the story of Shawn Moore's interaction with The State, as told by his lawyer, Evan Nappen:

-NJ’s Department of Youth and Family Services (DYFS) came to his home, accompanied by police officers. They claimed to be responding to a call about a photo of a young boy holding a firearm. -Without a search warrant, DYFS demanded entry into Moore’s home and access to all of his firearms. Moore was not initially there, but his wife called him.-With his lawyer listening to the exchange on the phone with police and DFYS, Moore denied entry to his home and access to his safe where he stores his guns.-When Moore requested the name of the DFYS representative, she refused to give it to him.-After threatening to “take my kids,” the police and Family Services worker left — “empty handed and seeing nothing.

More from Nappen:

-The DYFS worker repeatedly demanded access to the house and for Moore to open his safe where the firearms were stored. She said that the guns should be catalogued and checked to make certain they were “properly registered.” (NJ does not require registration, it is voluntary.)-The four police officers acted professionally, they were there at the request of DYFS.-The worker refused to identify herself. Mr. Moore demanded that she giver her name. She refused and ran away.-As of Tuesday morning, Mr. Nappen believes that DYFS is still pushing for an inspection, “which is not happening.”

Mr. Moore tells a slightly different version of the behavior of the thug cops from Carneys Point, NJ :They kept trying to pressure me to open my safe. They had no warrant, no charges, nothing. I didn’t budge. I was told I was being “unreasonable” and that I was acting suspicious because I wouldn’t open my safe. Told me they were gonna get a search warrant. Told em go ahead. Nappen (my lawyer) asked me for the dyfs workers name. she wouldnt give it. i asked for credentials and she wouldnt show em. i tried to take a pic of her and she turned around real fast and walked away. After a while of them threatening to take my kids, get warrants and intimidation they left. Empty handed and seeing nothing.

The Blaze contacted Chief Robert DiGregorio of the Carneys Point PD to get the department’s account of what happened. Of course, the chief did not answer their calls or return their messages. Neither would DYFS, who refused to even give out the phone number of the Trenton office ("Google it", they were told, before being hung up on).

Nappen is a well-known lawyer in New Jersey. If he weren't, Scott Moore might have lost his son and been in prison on trumped-up charges.

Still think it's a good idea to give the government -any government- more power, when accountability to the public is now a thing of the past?

...and it's not the North Korean cyber-attack, a potential bank rush in Europe, the sludgy mire of the US economy, ever-rising gas prices, stalled gun-control legislation, or the continuing Benghazi cover-up.

New York City's health-conscious mayor, Michael Bloomberg, announced plans this week to ban cigarette cartons from being displayed in retail stores. Instead, he wants to see them kept behind counters, curtains, or inside of cabinets, he said Monday.Cigarettes are the latest vice to come under fire from Bloomberg, who recently lost his battle to ban large sodas. He has previously banned or tried to ban trans-fats, smoking in public places, salty food, and traffic in the city.

The media uses mockery to destroy those with whom they disagree (from Ronald Reagan's alleged stupidity to Sarah Palin's alleged cupidity). The fact they've turned this weapon upon Michael Bloomberg, and the nanny-state government interference he represents, can only be a positive development.

Of course, it would be nice if they turned that same scrutiny towards the White House. But that's a big leap. Right now, I'm thrilled with the baby steps....gotta walk before you can run, right?

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Colorado-based Magpul, a manufacturer of firearm accessories (such as high-capacity magazines), has made some waves by publicly declaring they will leave the state if Governor John Hickenlooper signs the gun-control bill pushed through by Democrats in the legislature.

Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper will sign legislation Wednesday that sets limits on ammunition magazines and expands background checks for firearms, marking a Democratic victory in a state where gun ownership is a treasured right... The measures proposed are some of the strictest gun laws in the nation...

So by-bye Magpul, and hundreds of good manufacturing jobs. Which will likely have more of an immediate impact on the community than any of the Democrat's half-baked gun control edicts.

Democrats tried to ease the concerns from Magpul Industries, saying the company can still manufacture higher-capacity magazines if they were sold out of state.

It's not the blatant hypocrisy that bothers me - if you really believe high-capacity magazines are killing people, you shouldn't want them sold anywhere. But that's just liberal SOP.

It's the concept being pushed by Colorado Democrats that the government can take it upon itself to determine what a company may manufacture, and whom they may sell it to (and for how long), that I find deeply troubling. Especially when the commerce is within America, and is constitutionally protected (for the moment).

How can a company continue to invest, hire and grow when any business plan they make is subject to the whims of politicians? Politicians who will no doubt threaten to snuff out your expansion, your new product lines, and your livelihood unless you make the right contributions to the right people?

To the Democrats, the only good capitalist is a crony capitalist. Good for Magpul for giving the Colorado Left a big "f*ck you", and packing up and leaving town. Someone tell the unemployed they can thank the swells up in Vail and Boulder for their new status as leeches on the public tit.

Maybe they'll run 'em out of town, old-school.

Maybe that's what the Democrats are worried about, and why they are are so hastily trying to disarm the populace...

Upstate New York has a brutal unemployment rate, averaging9.6%, but climbing to well over 10% in some regions. Its traditional industries are dying off, and like most blue states, New York is not exactly a place where companies are rushing to open businesses.

But there's gold in them thar hills - a fortune in fracking, so to speak, that could bring New York from bust to boom overnight, and raise the living standards of so many currently rotting in unnecessary poverty.

So who's stopping them? Those cruel, heartless Republicans, no doubt trying to corner the market on natural gas?

Artists Against Fracking, a celebrity-backed group started by Yoko Ono and Sean Lennon, the son of the late Beatles star, appears to have violated a New York state law that requires that groups who spend money in an attempt to influence government policy register as lobbyists for the purpose of transparency. The group has a star-studded roster of supporters, including Robert DeNiro, Alec Baldwin, and Paul McCartney and recently released a video called “Don’t Frack My Mother” (above), featuring celebrities such as Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Maggie Gyllenhaal, and Susan Sarandon, among others....

McCarthy is the most hypocritical of the bunch, how much raping of Mother Earth did it take to build this castle/compound for himself?

Which brings us to the next set of folks determine to let New York starve so that they may enjoy their view: Limousine liberals, who are all in cahoots with Andrew Cuomo toprotect their vistas and their Visas:

Consider the governor’s advisory committee on hydraulic fracturing. It includes his brother-in-law, Robert Kennedy Jr., a former senior attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council, and two current senior attorneys for the NRDC. That’s three NRDC seats on a panel of 13 (later expanded).The Open Space Institute...and...the Catskill Mountainkeeper...along with the NRDC, were creations of John Adams, a close associate of the Rockefeller family. Adams’ son, Ramsay, is Catskill Mountainkeeper’s executive director

One would think that the purposes of all these high-sounding groups is environmental protection. You'd be wrong. It's about protecting the investments, and the views, of the liberal rich:

The Lew Beach area — where the counties of Delaware, Sullivan and Ulster come together and many of these folks own land —might be described as high society in the hinterlands.NRDC founder John Adams is from the area and introduced Laurance Rockefeller Jr. to it many years ago. Rockefeller has bought up thousands of acres of land in LewBeach and divided it into home sites for wealthy friends and folks like Dan Rather, who told The New York Times, “My house in the Beaverkill is the only bit of privacy that I have left,” and an investment banker who noted, “It’s like buying into a land bank.’’In short, Rockefeller and various associates have long been establishing a secluded preserve for their personal enjoyment. But being able to buy up property inexpensively is crucial — and thus fracking, which would greatly add to the value of lands still owned by locals, threatens the project.

And thus the residents of Upstate New York starves, while celebrities sing piously about the planet and the bleeding-heart rich work with politicians to keep high-paying jobs away from their homes, lest the rabble move in next door.

When Upstate turns into Detroit writ large, don't blame the unions.

Binghampton, N.Y.

Blame the blue-blood Left, the Beatles, and most of all Governor Andrew Cuomo - whose dark ambitions and ugly hypocrisy make his dad look like a saint...

Monday, March 18, 2013

Somewhere, our socialist president is rubbing his hands in glee, like a cartoonish super-villain:

This weekend, the government of Greek Cyprus -- under pressure from the European Union -- negotiated a bailout that had as one of its provisions an assessment on the capital of those with deposits in the banks on Cyprus. Those with under 100,000 Euros in their accounts are slated to receive a 6.6% haircut while those with more than 100,000 Euros in their accounts will be docked 9.9%

Worked your whole life to save $100K to retire on? Sorry - the oligarchs of Europe need to maintain their power and save face, and it will cost you $6,600 - probably somewhere between one and two years of your savings.- in order for them to do so. But don't worry - they have your best interests in mind.

"Interests". It's a funny word. It's usually what a bank pays you for leaving your money on deposit, and allowing them to profit on it by loaning it out at higher rates.

But if you've noticed, lately nobody's been getting paid any interest on their bank accounts. That's because the United States government is forcibly keeping interest rates low so it can continue to print money maniacally, and borrow even more at manageable rates. Which it then wastes on green schemes, or on welfare payments to society's unproductive, in exchange for their votes. But our oligarchs need to maintain power and save face too...

On my interest-bearing checking account, average balance of a few thousand dollars a month, my last quarterly interest payment was...$0.01. Isn't that abomination an inadvertent tax on my money, a confiscation of potential income that I am denied so that our debt-ridden government can take a few more huffs off the deficit crack pipe?

That's where Evil Obama comes in. Taxation is such a negative word - even hardcore lefty Bill Maher has had enough - that it might not be the best strategy to acquire the funds necessary to keep the liberal Ponzi scheme afloat

But what about..."a negative interest charge", on a sliding scale?

"The rich" - depositors with over $100K in the bank - could pay 9%, those with $75K 6%, those with $50K 3%, and all others pay 1% or less. It's not a tax, it's a negative interest charge (hey - it's not like you were earning any interest anyway!), and everyone will have skin in the game. Why, Obama's negative interest charge can actually be perceived as fair and progressive wealth redistribution! At least, by his comrades in The Party...

Of course - like Cyprus - Obama will have to declare a multi-day bank holiday, in order to prevent a run on the banks and a Great Depression. Which would no doubt cripple the economy, the way you would be crippled if your car hit a brick wall at 80 MPH.

Reince Preibus and state party leader Ed Cox...sat with a group of African-Americans who align themselves firmly with the GOP. The subject: how to improve the party’s relations with blacks.

The event was held in East New York’s huge Christian Cultural Center, whose black pastor, A.R. Bernard, has flirted with running for mayor — as a Republican.Celebrity attendees included ex-New York Jets great Curtis Martin and actor Jamie Hector of HBO’s “The Wire.”Truth is, Republicans have much to offer minorities.GOP-driven welfare reform, for example, has nudged countless young minority women toward more independent lifestyles, with many having found jobs, gotten married — or both.

Charter schools have freed thousands of minority kids from their failed government-run counterparts...And tough GOP-style crime-fighting tools, like stop-and-frisk, primarily aid minorities, who are disproportionate victims. (Last year, the NYPD kept murders to just 419, down from 2,245 in 1990. Since some 90% are typically black or Hispanic, that spells 1,640 minority lives saved last year.)To their credit, Priebus and Cox tried to stress such points — and if that message gets through, blacks may well respond. ....winning them over would benefit both the party and the black community — which has precious little to point to for its decades of Democratic allegiance.They might follow NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly’s example. After all, there’s a reason why, despite controversial policies like stop-and-frisk, ties between cops and blacks have improved, with but a few isolated exceptions: From Day One, Kelly has made it a point to visit black churches personally, and he kept at it every week.

Reince Preibus may not be successful in moving the black vote more than few percentage points to the right. But his outreach proves two things: One, Reince is thinking long-term, and hammering home the damage that liberal policies have done to the black community is the most intellectually honest way to get black voters to reconsider their allegiance to the Democratic party. Two, Reince realizes that the 2014 mid-term election campaign is already underway, and the 2016 campaign for the White House will begin by....tomorrow, latest.

Of course, what Reince and every high-profile Republican should also be doing - at every opportunity - is vocally discrediting the media, making sure that by 2016, even the infamous "low-information voter" is aware of their broad-based bias, and their propensity to shill for the candidate of the Left.

If the GOP continues to reach out to blacks and explain the tremendous harm done to them by the Democratic party, and if they can open the eyes of the clueless to the deceitful campaign of the mainstream media, they may actually have a chance to win a national election.

It's a simple strategy. Which means there's better than a 50/50 chance the GOP will f*ck it up...

Thursday, March 14, 2013

#1) A journalist may not injure Barack Obama or, through inaction, allow Barack Obama to come to harm.#2) A journalist must obey the orders given to it by Barack Obama, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.#3) A journalist must protect his or her own existence, as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Laws.

Asimov's classic robot novellas were primarily stories about the conflicts - moral, ethical, and "positronic" - inherent within the Three Laws of Robotics.
Now, if you want to see the Three Laws of Journalism simultaneously in action and in conflict,take a look at Bob Woodwarda few days back, trying to reconcile the Third Law (protecting his own existence by reportingthreats made upon his person by the Obama administration) with the primacy of the First (a journalist may not injure Barack Obama!):

I think if Barack Obama knew that was part of the communication's strategy--let's hope it's not a strategy, that it's a tactic that somebody's employed--and said, look, we don't go around trying to say to reporters, "If you...present something we don't like... you're going to regret this."

Protect the president first, then his own life. Well done, Bob. Nice interpretation of the Laws, exercising the Third but making sure to clarify the First as pre-eminent! Asimov would be proud....

Ron Fournier of the National Journal, also endangered by the president's men, follows the Laws to the letter, claiming that no matter how dire and repetitive the threats from the White House have been, the president must not be blamed, not now, not ever, Lord no!

This can't be what Obama wants. He must not know how thin-skinned and close-minded his staff can be to criticism. "I have the greatest respect and admiration for what you do," Obama told reporters a year ago.

How closely do the all-to-real "Three Laws of Journalism" parallel Asimov's fictional "Three Laws of Robotics"?
Read the passage below. It's from an Asimov story entitled Little Lost Robot, part of the I, Robot collection. Listen to the responses of "Robot #28"- being questioned here on his odd interpretation of the Laws - and just note the similarity between his nervous defensiveness and that of Woodward and Fournier:

"I want to ask you some questions, Robot #28. Were you in the radiation room of Building Two about four hours ago?"The robot had trouble answering. Then it came out hoarsely, like machinery needing oil, "Yes, ma'am".

"There was a man who almost came to harm there, wasn't there?""Yes, ma'am""You did nothing.""No, ma'am.""That man might have been hurt because of your inaction. Do you know that?""Yes, ma'am.""I want you to tell me exactly why you did nothing to save him.""I want to explain, ma'am. I certainly don't want to have you...have anyone...think that I could do a thing that could cause harm to a master. Oh, no, no...that would be a horrible...an inconceivable....oh..."

If Woodward or Fournier had said it:

I certainly don't want to have you...have anyone...think that I could do a thing that could cause harm to Barack Obama. Oh, no, no...that would be a horrible...an inconceivable....Asimov was prescient. But it was not our machines becoming monsters without the Laws, it would be our men (and women) who would turn into monsters by adapting the Three Laws - to fascistic ends.

Normally, at this point in Asimov's tales, a robo-psychologist would be called in to analyze those machines which had mentally mangled the Laws. But we don't have a real-life Dr. Susan Calvin to examine the mainstream media, and if she did exist, they would no doubt drum her out of business, with accusations of bis, racism, and God knows what else.

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Rick Wilson at Ricochet explains why Obama's recent outreach to the GOP, dubbed by the wags as a "charm offensive", is perceived by the GOP as more offensive than charming:

It's as if the White House and Obama's political team believes Republicans will simply ignore four years of being cast as racist, sexist, bigoted, evildoers imbued with a hatred of the poor and who run on a national platform of strangling kittens and mandatory pre-school waterboarding.His constant campaigning and reflexive demagoguery doesn't feel like leadership...it feels like some kind of deeply embedded revanchism....So you'll pardon the GOP's hesitation to leap into Barack's arms and go riding off into the sunset. His contempt for bipartisanship, his heavy-handed style and his disinterest in viewpoints even slightly at variance with his own aren't going to be fixed with a few dinners and visits to the Hill.

There is nothing in Obama's history that even hints that he's acting in good faith, and that the moment the GOP rolls over that he won't continue his partisan abuse. He can barely bring himself to pretend otherwise.At best, his contemptuous sense of entitlement and superiority steps on any attempt at bipartisan reconciliation.At worst, it's Ike Turner banging on Tina's door, promising he'll be better this time.

Bloomy's ban was blown off by Judge Tingling (more on him later), and all New Yorkers are once again free to imbibe the poison of their choice. But now that the ban has bitten the dust, we are learning that Nanny B specifically worked a loophole into his loony law that would have exempted the soda ban's most fervent supporters: Trendy white liberals.

Starbucks will continue selling sugary coffee drinks under the "half milk" loophole, a special little loophole created by Bloomberg and his minions to make sure that the Crusading Liberal White People who support this ban are actually not affected by this ban. If Starbucks had been included in the ban, the shrieking from Bloomberg's Crusading Liberal White People supporters would have been deafening, and the thing would have been killed.So they made certain that the ban didn't apply to White People's Big Gulps, even though they contain nearly as much sugar and much more caffeine than Other People's Big Gulps.For example, Lattes are exempt because they’re more than half milk and it’s OK for customers to fill their own cups of large coffee with all the sugar they want.Starbucks announced it plans to continue offering 20 ounce venti-sized drinks because of the milk content. Like Dunkin’ Donuts, customers will also be able to add their own sugar to their coffee.

Note to Bloomberg: Milk itself is full of sugar.

No overly-caffeinated, sugary drinks for minorities and the poor, but plenty of overpriced "venits" for the white middle class. No racism there.

Back to Judge Tingling. Turns out that he had a very personal reason that he could have cited to justify the ban, but - as an honest jurist - ruled strictly by legal precedent. How quaint:

Tingling, ironically, is a diabetic who eats healthy and regularly works out, friends said.“Sugar is poison to the judge,” said attorney Ravi Batra, who noted Tingling inherited diabetes from his judge dad.

Bloomberg probably felt his 20-ounce jihad was a lead-pipe cinch, with a diabetic judge hearing the case. Too bad Tingling - who said, in overturning the ban, "the loopholes in this rule effectively defeat the state purpose of the rule" - realized that punishing one race of people so another race could feel better about themselves is, well, kinda illegal.

And immoral. Which is the side that do-gooder liberals usually find themselves on, while bleating they should be judge by their intentions.

Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Are we headed for war once more on the Korean peninsula? Ralph Peters is shitting bricks:

I’ve dismissed past North Korean threats as pathetic pleas for attention. But things have begun to feel different.My greatest concern is that Kim Jong Un, a pampered, sheltered young man, may not have a grip on reality. He may not know how hollow his own regime has become or how limited his strategic reach truly is.It’s all too possible that yes-man generals, concerned for their own privileges, may have exaggerated North Korea’s military and nuclear capabilities to their young leader. He may actually believe he could strike America — and that his large-but-decrepit army is invulnerable.

Seems a good read on the Nork's adolescent-in-chief (hey! Just like we have!), as Kim Jung Un is tearing up the treaties

Following a week of aggressive rhetoric from North Korea, the government's main newspaper, Rodong Sinmun, reported Monday that the armistice suspending the Korean War had been "declared invalid."

So what's our responsethe unraveling of the last vestiges of sanity in North Korea?

The Obama administration counters that Pyongyang lacks the legal authority to abrogate the truce unilaterally...

Yeah, and Hitler didn't have the legal authority to tear up the Treaty of Versaiiles, or the Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact ( aka the German-Soviet nonaggression pact). The 1973 Yom Kippur war began when both the Egyptians and the Syrians unilaterally crossed previously agreed-upon ceasefire lines. I'm not sure that Japan had the legal authority to bomb Pearl Harbor, but they did so anyway.

Anwar Sadat, abrogating the peace in 1973, despite his lack of legal authority...

I am sure, should North Korea attack Seoul, we can count on Barack Obama - to write a strongly-worded letter, citing legal precedent and international law, proving without a doubt that the Norks acted both unlawfully and precipitously.

This is not actually the most relevant part of this particular Pallywood production, just the part I found most telling:

A United Nations report concludes that a Gaza-based BBC editor’s eleven-month-old son was killed by a Hamas rocket, not an Israeli rocket, as was reported in November at the time of the boy’s death, most prominently by the Washington Post. That newspaper featured the story and the below photograph, which depictsBBC editor Jihad Masharawi holding his dead infant, on its front page.

The Post has yet to publish a correction to its original piece....

Come again? What's the name of that BBC editor?

Sweet Jeebus, what next? Will the BBC hire Rapey McSodomy as their editor on feminist issues?

Well, of course they wouldn't. But, as the BBC (and the Washington Post) demonstrate, different rules apply when you are covering those pesky Jews...

Monday, March 11, 2013

Nostradamus warned that the next-to-last pope would “flee Rome in December when the great comet is seen in the daytime.”

Well, as NBCpoints out, there's been some serious shifting in the calender months since Nostradamus made his prediction. But in fact, there was a comet visible in the night sky in February, when Benedict XVI gave up the papacy - Comet Pan-STARRS (not ISON, as the article incorrectly credits - sigh...):

In persecutione extrema S.R.E. sedebit Petrus Romanus, qui pascet oves in multis tribulationibus: quibus transactis civitas septicollis diruetur, & Judex tremêdus judicabit populum suum. Finis.(In extreme persecution, the seat of the Holy Roman Church will be occupied by Peter the Roman, who will feed the sheep through many tribulations, at the term of which the city of seven hills will be destroyed, and the formidable Judge will judge his people. The End.)

Well, is there any religion more put-upon than Christianity right now? They are being slaughtered in the Middle East, abandoned in Europe, and are being persecuted in America by Barack Obama. who seems determined to force them to abandon the precepts of their faiths and bow before the gods of he federal government, and nationalized health care.

Coincidence, you say? Sure. So are those massive meteors exploding over Russia, those lightning strikes on St. Peters, and those earthquakes doing limited but specificdamages...

Meanwhile, in Rome, the cardinals huddle to chose the next leader of their faith. Will it be the last?

Personally, I think that has less to do with fate, and more to do with what Catholics still remain....

...because we know what the media does to enemies of the state. After "discrediting" dissenters (Soviet-style), the media proceeds to smear them, mock them, humiliate them....before they finally turn the bloodied carcass over to the IRS.

...I got news for you: Me saying parents should stick around and raise the children – me saying families and cultures should focus on education — is not radical or revolutionary. It’s the fucking truth.”

“There’s people getting shot,” Carolla added. “There’s brown people shooting other brown people on the streets of Chicago every fucking day of the week. And you guys sit there silently. If it was a Sandy Hook situation or anything else, you’d be all up in arms. But you can’t say a word, so you sit there with your fucking coward hands over your fucking little cowardly soup coolers. And then when somebody has the guts to say something — to speak the truth for fucking one hot second, you jump up his ass and call him a racist. Thus, you silence the media. Now you perpetuate the problem.”“The news media — it’s your job to try to do something,” he said. “It’s your job to blow the lid off these things. This is an epidemic. … If this was sickle cell, you guys would be talking about it. But it’s not. It’s a social issue. It involves family. It involves some judgment and some finger-pointing. And you’re not willing to do that because you’re pussy cowards. You are willing to point fingers at me. You’ll point fingers all day long. But you won’t point fingers where they belong, which are at these families and consequently, kids are living in poverty.”“Generations are rolling over in poverty, and they’re dying,” he continued. “They’re shooting each other. They’re stabbing each other. They’re killing each other. You won’t say a word. The politicians won’t say a word. The so-called leaders won’t say a fucking word. And when I say a fucking word, I’m called a racist so you can silence me. Good, have it your way — nobody say a fucking word, and then we’ll watch all the black and brown people just go off into poverty, and we’ll hear all the stories about the 14-year-olds on the streets of Chicago being shot by other 14-year-olds. Is that your plan?

But's only Adam Carolla - a comic who's co-hosted multiple television shows, has a podcast that's the #1 comedy download on iTunes (and consistently top 10 in across all genres), who sells out his live shows, who has written a book, and even owns a freakin' winery, for God's sake.

But hey - it's not like he's a celebrity of any of intellectual heft, like media faves Janeane Garofalo and Sarah Silverman. Now their every word is worthy of great study...and fawning coverage

Sunday, March 10, 2013

What was happening to Rand Paul, 12 hours into this windmill-tilting crusade against drones (but not against droning), as the sun set and the moon rose and he talked and he talked and he — oh, how he talked....there’s still so much attendant discomfort in watching a filibuster...like the relative who insists on giving an impromptu toast at the wedding — Dear god, now he’s talking about grocery-hoarding survivalists? It could all go so terribly wrong.Watch Paul’s entire production, fully streamable at c-span.org. Better yet, fast-forward Wednesday’s filibuster in the Senate to random intervals with the volume down low for the full Kabuki effect of this American political theater. Watch hour zero, minute zero when, red-tied and wide-eyed, the Kentucky Republican strolls to the lectern. Witness the progression:3:06 p.m.: The whites of his eyes have begun to match his tie.9:43: The reds of his eyes have begun match the sheen of the Senate mahogany.11:43: Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) is talking now, saving Paul, saving all of us from watching...

So - let's review what we have learned from the Paper of Record about last Wednesday's filibuster:

Oh, how he talked...(it was sooo boring)... about grocery-hoarding survivalists(Paul's crazy)

Paul’s... production...(Pfffft! overwrought fiction, indeed!)

...fast-forward ...with the volume down low for the full Kabuki effect of this American political theater. (Listen to a Republican from Kentucky? Muffy, please! It's all just an act, a show for the rubes back home...)

red-tied and wide-eyed,,,(that crazy thing again)

saving all of us from watching...(TURN OFF YOU TV'S AND KEEP YOUR MINDS FIRMLY SHUT)

Friday, March 08, 2013

Did Obama really think he could whack Americans from the sky and not have a statute or a judicial mechanism to be a backstop against such awesome unilateral powers? ...Instead, the constitutional law professor had to be schooled by a Fed-hating, goldbug, libertarian doctor from Kentucky. Somewhere, Dick Cheney is laughing.

Rand Paul....had pried an answer out of a White House habitually averse to treating a co-equal branch with respect. He certainly got more done than Graham and McCain did last night by attending a Georgetown dinner with the president, a White House move no doubt intended to reverse the president’s slide in the polls and make it seem like he was reaching out to Republicans. Had McCain and Graham done as much in the past as Paul did in his nearly 13-hour filibuster, we might have had a full accounting on, say, Benghazi from President Obama.

Worst media coverage of the Rand Paul filibuster? As one would suspect, the candidates are legion, but we'll have to go with CNN’s Erin Burnett, who single-handedly set women back two decades with her teenager-level coverage, which basically amounted to one word: Booooorrrring....

Thursday, March 07, 2013

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., walks out of the Capitol after his filibuster of the nomination of John Brennan to be CIA director on Capitol Hill in Washington, early Thursday, March 7, 2013

I think two old dogs just guaranteed themselves primary challenges. On the very same floor where Rand Paul poured out his heart and soul to talk about constitutional limitations on executive power until his throat gave out, a well-fed and well rested John McCainsaid the following::

“The country needs more senators who care about liberty, but if Mr. Paul wants to be taken seriously he needs to do more than pull political stunts that fire up impressionable libertarian kids in their college dorms. He needs to know what he’s talking about,”

Actually, Senator, we do need a Republican who can fire up libertarian kids in their college dorms. You certainly couldn't, and neither could Mitt Romney. And those kids were part and parcel of your asses getting kicked.

McCain, photographed after dinner w/Barack last night..."Excellent! And the president didn't ask me for a dime...just my soul...'

Somehow, Lindsey Graham was even worse - he blamed Rand Paul & his filibuster for forcing him to vote for John Brennen:

Speaking to reporters after he came off the floor Wednesday, Mr. Graham said he defends Mr. Paul’s right to ask questions and seek answers, but said the filibuster has actually pushed him to now support Mr. Brennan.Mr. Graham said he had been inclined to oppose the nomination because he’d found Brennan to be qualified for the job but also “arrogant, kind of a bit shifty.” He said he wasn’t going to filibuster him but would have voted against him on final passage, but now he’ll vote for him.“I am going to vote for Brennan now because it’s become a referendum on the drone program,” he said.

Bullshit, Lindsey. You should be praising Rand Paul, not burying him, because he gave you an excuse to vote for Obama's candidate.

Simply unbelievable.

We finally get a hero, and our jealous old men - so loathe to give up their undeserved spotlight, so unfit for the time now at hand - would break him so as to gain favor with their fey and foppish king....

The Blaze:Basically, as of this writing, the White House’s unofficial response to Sen. Paul’s filibuster has come from two GOP senators...Sen. Graham even brought a chart and everything:

I was transfixed by Rand Paul filibuster yesterday, watching/listening from two o'clock until almost 11pm.

I found Paul's passion for the constitution to be almost thrilling; his questions about the nature of the drone program troubling, and his desire to protect all of the American people from a potentially dangerous future to be a noble cause, even if his attempt, as he alluded to at the outset, was an exercise in tilting at windmills.

But isn't that part of the definition of courage, daring to go into battle and risk all even when you know victory is already out of reach?

I see what Texas saw when they elected Ted Cruz. His love of his home state shone through when he read of the Alamo, and his respect for the institution to which he was elected was made clear as he effusively (almost tearfully, I thought) thanked Paul for giving him his first opportunity to speak on the Senate floor.

Marco Rubio is certainly an impressive figure as well, although I will admit to a certain amount of skepticism on my part as his appearance on the Senate floor. No doubt he will be running for president in 2016 against Rand Paul, and he wasn't about to let his suture rival bask in the love of the core without making sure some of that spotlight was shining on him as well. Still, his presence and command will make him a formidable voice for conservative causes for years to come.

I liked Mike Lee too. Dude looks like a linebacker, but spoke with the clear and direct language that propelled him to victory in Utah over incumbent senator Bob Bennett and the GOP-endorsed Tim Bridgewater. Another member of the class of 2010, Pat Toomey, spoke at some length to give Rand Paul a breather.

You know what would have been nice, though? To see Orrin Hatch show up. Or John McCain. Or any of the old guard of the Republican Senate caucus. Just to show some freakin' support for the effort the young guns were making to preserve our constitutional democracy....

And they wonder why so many of the Paul-Cruz-Lee ilk are rising up in their home states and challenging them in the primaries...

What I saw last night - and what any Americans who were watching saw - was that the Republican party has a young, deep, principled group of Senators, and that their message - unfiltered by the sneer of the liberal media - is coherent, logical, and just.

God bless you, Rand Paul, for taking a stand, and leading through courage. You showed us that there may be hope for the party - and the people - after all....

Props must be given to Ron Wyden, D-Oregon, for being the only member of his party with the guts to join Ron Paul on a non-partisan issue. Had Wyden made this speech when Bush was in charge, the Left would be clamoring for a presidential run:

Tuesday, March 05, 2013

Not even the History Channel, apparently, based on their press release following the strong opening of their miniseries on...The Bible.

Says Nancy Dubuc, President, Entertainment and Media, A+E Networks, “The success of THE BIBLE has catapulted HISTORY into one of the most powerful brands across media landscape and we could not be more thrilled and more proud. We are the #1 cable entertainment telecast of the year to date! Leading into the premiere we had the best day ever on History.com, and THE BIBLE trended #1 on Twitter. Clearly there is a nationwide groundswell that was waiting for this moment.

Clearly.

And in related news, tens of millions of Americans were spotted going to a place known locally as "church" on Sunday; this, following a day where millions of Jews were alleged to have entered buildings known as "synagogues"...

AllahPundit is shocked, shocked over at Hot Air, but he needn't be. The fault lies in the question asked by the pollster:

Ask a Democrat any question that begins with "Do you think the president of the United States, on his own, should be able to authorize...", and you will get a yes answer. No need to even finish the question, the remainder of the sentence is irrelevant - as long as Barack is president.

You want to get a gauge of the true feelings of the Left? Restate the questions as "Do you think a Republican president of the United States, on his own..."